Senators Beat Thrashers 3-1

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, February 7, 2003

Shaun Van Allen and Daniel Alfredsson scored special-teams goals and Marian Hossa scored his 34th goal into an empty net in the Ottawa Senators' 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night.

Van Allen scored a short-handed goal in the first and Alfredsson broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal in the second.

Hossa, who returned after missing two games because of the flu, assisted on Alfredsson's goal before scoring an empty-netter with 5.9 seconds left as Ottawa remained undefeated (2-0-1) since the All-Star break.

Alfredsson leads the Senators with 58 points in 53 games, followed by Hossa, who has 55 points in 54 games.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 30th goal for Atlanta, which had won the first two games of its three-game road trip, including a 4-2 victory in New Jersey on Friday night.

Kovalchuk, who finished second to teammate Dany Heatley last season for the league's Rookie of the Year award, had 29 goals through 65 games when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury on March 10.

Senators rookie Martin Prusek made 24 saves in his second straight start, improving to 10-1-1 in 14 games _ including 12 starts _ this season.

The Thrashers, who lost for just the second time in their last eight games, are 7-3-1 since coach Bob Hartley was hired Jan. 14.

Van Allen got credit for his 10th goal of the season 12:13 in as the Senators were killing a penalty to Chris Neil. Van Allen won a faceoff in the Thrashers' zone back to defenseman Zdeno Chara, whose shot from the point struck Van Allen and sailed past goalie Pasi Nurminen.

Kovalchuk drew Atlanta even 4:13 into the second as he put a rebound of Chris Tamer's point shot past Prusek to become the second Thrashers player after Donald Audette to reach 30 goals.

Notes:@ Audette had a team-record 32 goals in 64 games with Atlanta in 2000-01 when he was traded to Buffalo on March 13, 2001. … Thrashers RW Brad Tapper left the game in the second period because of a bruised chest and was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure. … Van Allen has scored two of Ottawa's four short-handed goals this season. … Senators G Patrick Lalime missed his second straight game because of the flu.